A sacrifice that demands respect

No one who reads Richard Pendlebury's latest terrifyingly graphic but profoundly moving despatch from the Afghan front line could fail to be affected by the tale of two 18-year-old squaddies who we sent to war in that far-flung country.

Their faces shine with the trust and optimism of youth but Danny Eaglesfield and Robbie Laws have shown courage that few men could lay claim to. And yet today, only one of them is coming home.

Only a few days after arriving in Afghanistan, they were clearing explosive devices when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing Robbie.

Despite the loss of his best friend, Danny believes in our mission in Afghanistan, and we must respect that belief and the incredible sacrifice that it inspired.

But as Lord Guthrie, once Britain's most senior soldier, tells the Mail today, it's truly shocking that we are sending them to do this job with inadequate equipment, having spent 'the minimum we can get away with'.

For those of us safe at home - especially the politicians who promised us a war 'without a shot being fired' - it's time to consider whether it's right to be sending boy heroes like Danny and Robbie to fight and die in a corner of a foreign field that, despite what Rupert Brooke might once have believed, will never be England.

Stifling debateWhen John Bercow was elected as the Commons Speaker, he said he wanted a new era of truth and transparency.

So it's disappointing that his officials are supporting the Government's attempts to hush up the Gary McKinnon affair.

When MPs tried to put down a motion in support of Mr McKinnon, they were told that it was impossible, because the matter was before the courts.

This is utter rubbish: the McKinnon case is being considered by two high court judges, neither of whom is going to be the slightest bit influenced by a Commons motion. And two earlier parliamentary motions on the case were allowed to go forward, despite the judicial proceedings.

It's hard not to conclude that Commons officials are conniving with the Home Office to suppress debate on the issue.

Which is especially surprising because it's now almost impossible to find any British politician - other than the craven Home Office and its mulish ministers - still attempting to argue that Gary McKinnon should not be tried in Britain.

Today, Boris Johnson becomes the latest senior figure to back the Mail's campaign to prevent this fragile Asperger's sufferer being extradited to America for hacking into U.S. government computers.

Mr Johnson is writing to every peer to say that extraditing Gary would be 'brutal, mad and wrong', and that they must change extradition law to prevent it. The Mail couldn't have put it better itself.

Another bad callNot content with failing to fix the many parts of government that need urgent attention, ministers are making plans to break those few bits that do work well.

Their latest ludicrous proposal is that in addition to the 999 emergency number, Britain should have a second number - 111 - for slightly less urgent cases.

Perhaps they think that people facing life or death situations should be making judgments about how serious their case is, and calling the appropriate number.

When the Home Office tried a similar scheme for the police a few years ago it failed dismally, and was dropped after £40million had been wasted.

Let's dump this latest damaging and stupid proposal now and save money - and lives - in the process.